Vash Ebbadi (NH) and Gillian Frost (IH) speaking to the NCLGA audience about the importance of local data in health care.

Vash Ebbadi (Northern Health) and Gillian Frost (Interior Health) presented to community leaders today at the 2019 North Central Local Government Association (NCLGA) Convention in Williams Lake on local health data and how information can inform local action.

“I was very happy to share some of my knowledge about data with the attendees today,” said Vash, regional manager of PPH Support Unit and an epidemiologist. “Epidemiology is all about analyzing health data in order to improve strategies around health care and prevent illness, so this was a great opportunity to talk about local-level health data and its importance in supporting community health, well-being, and resilience.”

MRIs and other tools have created a wealth of knowledge about the brain and how it works but even these advances are just the tip of the iceberg! Look after your brain by looking after your overall well-being!

Your brain is wonderful. Everything it does affects you – and everything that you do affects your brain in some way – so it’s very important to keep your brain healthy. But what does that look like exactly?

In spite of all the advances of modern science, the brain is still very mysterious. Most mental illnesses, for example, have no blood tests or scans which can determine their existence or origin. Research in this area continues but given the complexity of the brain, understanding this area fully is a tall order! It seems to me like there are billions of possible connections to explore! We do have some tools, though. Functional MRIs can see areas of the brain that light up when certain tasks are being undertaken but they can’t tell us what someone is thinking. In the same vein, EEG states are electrical readings that might point to sleep, waking, or other states determined by the waves seen on a screen.

As wonderful as this all is – and it truly is wonderful – nothing that we have so far can take the complex whole of brain cells and nerve endings and synapses and read all of the electrochemical messages and make sense of them.

Just how complex are our brains? Here’s one way to think of it:

When I read back this text, I have a voice in my head that is reading the text simultaneously. I am aware of the mess on my desk, the room I am in, and the fact that I have just smacked my lips. I am aware of the pressure on my buttocks from the chair, that it’s cloudy outside, that there are people putting drywall up in my bedroom, and so on. All of this is being processed in fractions of milliseconds! Where is that information? This awareness is just the tip of the iceberg – think of all the unconscious things I’m not aware of!

Still, in spite of all its mystery, we know that if certain areas of the brain are damaged, for example, you won’t be able to lift your hand or move your foot. But to further complicate matters, it’s also known that one area of the brain can learn to take over a function that is normally processed or caused by another area in the brain.

Phew! My head – or should I say my brain – is spinning with the mind-bending reality of it all!

So with all of this mystery during Brain Awareness Week, while we keep learning more and more about the brain every day, can I suggest these brain-boosting healthy living messages for us to try?

Eat well.

Get enough rest.

Don’t smoke or take chemicals (think drugs) into your brain.

Exercise regularly.

Be as happy and as positive in outlook as possible.

Do life wholeheartedly.

Look after your mind, your body, and your spiritual needs as best as you can.

Get involved in your community.

Laugh a lot.

Be grateful for the small things in life.

Meditate or do yoga.

Your brain and you are one in the same, so looking after your overall physical and psychological well-being is important.

Jim is a tobacco reduction coordinator with the men’s health program, and has a background in psychiatry and care of the elderly. In former times, Jim was director of care at Simon Fraser Lodge and clinical coordinator at the Brain Injury Group. He came to Canada from Glasgow, Scotland 20 years ago and, when not at work, Jim plays in the band Out of Alba and spends time with his family.

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